In the tradition of A. S. Byatt's Possession, a hauntingly poignant novel about madness, loss, and the ties that bind our past to our present Deep in the woods of northern England, somewhere between a dilapidated estate and an abandoned Victorian asylum, fifteen-year-old Jane Standen lived through a nightmare. She was babysitting a sweet young girl named Lily, and in one fleeting moment, lost her. The little girl was never found, leaving her family and Jane devastated.

Twenty years later, Jane is an archivist at a small London museum that is about to close for lack of funding. As a final research project--an endeavor inspired in part by her painful past--Jane surveys the archives for information related to another missing person: a woman who disappeared over one hundred years ago in the same woods where Lily was lost. As Jane pieces moments in history together, a portrait of a fascinating group of people starts to unfurl. Inexplicably tied to the mysterious disappearance of long ago, Jane finds tender details of their lives at the country estate and in the asylum that are linked to her own heartbroken world, and their story from all those years ago may now help Jane find a way to move on.

In riveting, beautiful prose, The World Before Us explores the powerful notion that history is a closely connected part of us--kept alive by the resonance of our daily choices--reminding us of the possibility that we are less alone than we might think.

From the Hardcover edition. Download and start listening now!

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Quotes & Awards

Once in a rare while a novel comes along to remind us of what great fiction can do: creating a world so sublimely felt that, for the hours we spend reading, we are lifted out of our own lives, and when we return we find ourselves immeasurably altered and enriched. The World Before Us by Aislinn Hunter is such a novel. It is a brilliant work of humanity and imagination, artful and breathtakingly beautiful, and it will continue to haunt long after you have finished reading.Helen Humphreys, author of The Lost Garden and Coventry

A richly layered narrative harmonizing the past and present, dissolving the boundaries of time frames and showing the possible conneciton between people and places and objects...The World Before Us is a well-constructed and thoughtful novel on serious subjects. The historical detail never overwhelms; instead it brings alive the past and shows the seamlessness of past and present, espeically the human need for contact, which transcends time and place.The Vancouver Sun

Stay's rigorous examination of the relationship between colonialism, globalization, and identity places it in the company of Michael Ondaatje . . . Controlled, smart, and humane.Quill and Quire

For all the complexity in Hunter's rich book . . . there is also a minute attention to detail and an elegance in the natural dialogue. Hunter hangs ideas on you, ideas you want to stop and think about, in such a subtle, tender way.Michelle Berry, Globe and Mail

A complex, subtle, and utterly haunting meditation on memory, history, and mortality. This book is magnificent.Emily St. John Mandel, author of National Book Award Finalist and New York Times Bestseller Station Eleven

Daring and mesmerizing. A haunting, irresistible story and an urgent mystery about what it means to pass through this life. Hunter has a poet's eye and ear, and she goes after the elusive - the waywardness of memory, the grief of random loss, the yearning of existence - in an unfolding drama that is absorbing, luminous and powerfully human.Alison MacLeod, Man Booker Prize-nominated author of Unexploded

Haunting…a compelling exploration of how memory shapes and is shaped by individuals and society.Kirkus

Haunting…an emotionally and intellectually satisfying journey in the manner of A.S. Byatt’s Possession…[The World Before Us] movingly dramatizes how unknowable the past can be.Publishers Weekly

The World Before Us is a powerful balancing act...It is a novel of considerable beauty, threaded with violence and pain, a melancholic book with moments of grace and joy. It is a thought-provoking novel, haunting and haunted, rooted in the power of history and of the individuals within it, and outside it. Reminiscent of A.S. Byatt’s Possession, it is the sort of novel which forces you to look at the world – the people around you, the objects they hold dear – in a different light.Globe and Mail

An NPR Best Book of the Year Selection

An ambitious new novel about the vitality of objects and history’s knack for bleeding into the present. Intricate in both expression and construction, and dense in thematic implication, The World Before Us cleverly innovates while tipping a nod to classic Gothic tropes: dynastic rivalries, crumbling country houses, madhouses and vanished girls. Hunter is less tempted by spooky thrills than the chance to explore ways in which human affection resonates across time.National Post

"A haunting tale of loss and reconciliation...The novel's three timelines are deftly woven together, illustrating the ways life takes on meaning even through objects and places. Hunter refers to history as 'a shifting trickster' and uses that premise to hook readers, as they...embark on a quest for meaning and truth in the face of tragedy.Chatelaine

Intricately composed and gripping…With The World Before Us, [Hunter] has created her most ambitious and original work.Quill and Quire

“A novel of considerable beauty, threaded
with violence and pain, a melancholic book with moments of grace and
joy…the sort of novel
which forces you to look at the world—the people around you, the
objects they hold dear—in a different light.”

Globe and Mail (Toronto)

“A richly layered narrative harmonizing the past and present, dissolving
the boundaries of time frames and showing the possible connection
between people and places and object.”

Vancouver Sun (Canada)

“Intricate in both expression and
construction and dense in thematic implication, The World before Us
cleverly innovates while tipping a nod to classic Gothic tropes:
dynastic rivalries, crumbling country houses, madhouses, and vanished
girls.”

National Post (Toronto)

“Intricately composed and gripping…With The World Before Us, [Hunter] has created her most ambitious and original work.”

Quill and Quire

“A brilliant work of humanity and
imagination, artful and breathtakingly beautiful, and it will continue
to haunt long after you have finished reading.”

Helen Humphreys, author of The Lost Garden and Coventry

“Narrator Fiona Hardingham holds the mystical aspects of the tale in check by her gentle, careful performance…The ghosts of the past are literally around Jane, and listeners hear them bringing a sense of history to the narrative. Hardingham performs them as people who are as real as Jane, since that’s how they see themselves. Hunter characterizes Jane as a person of deep introspection, and Hardingham narrates with thoughtful deliberateness. Her sedate pace keeps this magical book sounding true to life.”

About the Author

Aislinn Hunter’s acclaimed collection of stories, What’s Left Us, was a finalist for the Danuta Gleed Award and the ReLit Prize. Her book of poetry, Into the Early Hours, was shortlisted for the Dorothy Livesay Prize and won the Gerald Lampert Award. Her second collection of poetry The Possible Past was shortlisted for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize and the Pat Lowther Award. Her novel Stay was a Globe and Mail Top 100 book, and has recently been made into a feature film. After travelling to London and Edinburgh over the past few years to study for a PhD, Hunter now lives and teaches in Vancouver, British Columbia.

About the Narrator

Fiona Hardingham is a British-born actress, singer, voice-over artist, and AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator. On stage, she appeared at the Edinburgh Festival in her comedic one-woman show The Dark Show. She has also starred in the dark-comedy short film The Ballerino. She earned a BA honors degree in performing arts from Middlesex University, London, and also studied at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.

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